A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words
by Saunders2
Summary: (Title Subject to Change) That phrase reminds me of Don't Judge a Book by its Cover. What a true statement. Especially in my case. Literally. It's hard to work with a girl you like, even harder when you figure out there's more than what meets the eye. My name's Derek Souza, and it seems that it's a small world after all.


**Hey! So, I've been in the moI'd for some violence and disappearance, so I came up with this. Sorry if Derek's a little OOC, I should have back in by the next chapter. Here, I decided to make him a little nicer than usual. And don't worry! This story is completely, 100%, Chlerek!**

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><p><strong> <em> Chapter 1- Here We Go Again<em>**

I grabbed two coffees on my way to the precint. I looked at the cashire, Rachelle Rodgers, the girl who always took my same order every day.

"I should just have them get them done five minutes before you get here so I can just call your name and have you pay me at the pick up." Rae whined. I grinned at her.

"Deal with it or remember." I said simply. Rae scowled at me. She passed me my mocha and my partner's hot chocolate. "See ya, Rae-ya." I called back as I walked out the door.

"You know I hate it when you say that." I didn't hear her say it, but I know she did.

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><p>"Best. Partner. Ever!" Clover squealed as I passed her her hot chocolate. I bowed and stepped back. Clover laughed and took a sip. "Perfection." she moaned. I rolled my eyes at her and she flashed that grin that had my heart skip a beat and my stomach twist in knots.<p>

Clover has been my partner for three years and counting. I loved working with her. She was energetic and passionate about her work. She gave her full attention to everything and had a keen eye for things that were our of place. She had helped me solve more cases in the last three years than I had with my previous partner of eight years. Jacob had been okay, but he wasn't Clover. And Clover being who she is, is probably what caused me to fall for her in the first place. She's pretty, everyone noticed that. She had long, chetnut brown hair that fell to her waist in soft waves. She was slightly tanned, but she wasn't overly busty or seriously curvy. But that was overlooked by most guys when they saw her eyes. She had the most gorgues blue eyes. There were a kind of baby blue, but deeper, more enticing. I often found myself simply staring at her eyes and she would raise an eyebrow when I quickly looked away. After she caught me the first few times, she began to joke about it, teasing me quietly but always getting the satisfaction of having me blush.

My phone rang and I reached over to my desk to grab it. Pushing it against my ear, I heard a female's voice say, "40th and Queens."

"That far away Tori?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah. So, stop your moaning and get your butts over here, you'll like this one." I'd only heard her say that two other times. Both cases had run cold.

"No." I muttered into the phone.

"Oh, yes, genius. Now, if you don't believe me, come on over and see for yourself." Tori hung up.

"I know its Tori." Clover said, looking up at me from her computer."and from the way you reacted, it's another missing person, not a dead person."

"yeah." I grunted. Clover picked up her car keys.

"then let's get going, Souza."

"lead the way, Brooks"

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><p>Clover pulled up to the apartment complex at the address Leny had told me. Getting out, we walked up to the huge, old, brick building. Diriel greeted us at the door.<p>

"Update me." Clover said as Diriel led us into the complex, her eyes scanning out surroundings, taking if all in, trying to find anything out of place.

"Okay, so our victim is female, 21 and her name is Elizabeth Delaney." Diriel said, her voice smooth and unemotional. Diriel has gotten good at not letting her emotions show.

"Single, dating- wait!" Clover stopped suddenly, her voice echoing in the now quiet room. Diriel and I turned to her, surprised by her outburst. "Did you say Elizabeth Delaney?" Clover's eyes were wide as she asked her question.

"Yes, why? Did you know her?" Clover nodded slowly. "Okay, umm..." Diriel glanced at me, her expression showing me how uncertain she was at how to approach this.

"Clove?" Clover turned to look at me, her big, blue doe eyes wide with fear for this girl she knew. "We'll find her. Don't worry. We always figure it out, dn't we?" I grabbed her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Clover closed her eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. "We can do this." I whispered quietly, effectively calming her nerves as her breathing evened out. Clover opened her eyes, the storm gone, replaced by a fiery determination. She squeezed my hand.

"Of course we will." I smiled at her. She grinned and let go of my hand, after giving it a final squeeze. I looked over at Diriel, who was watching us with a look of curiosity. I raised my eyebrow and she glanced away hurriedly.

A tap on my shoulder had me spinning around to find that it was Peter Ricci, Diriel's partner. Peter was one of the guys who always got the ladies. Like now, how his tousled blonde hair and tan skin was easily earning him looks from some of the woman around us. He was about 5'6, and easy going, one of the many reasons he and my adoptive brother, Sumon, got along so easily. Peter was young though, about twenty-eight and he had only been working here for just over a year, haivng been sent over by NYPD. He was good, however, and an excellent attribute to the team.

Peter flashed a lazy grin as he caught my glare from catching me off guard.

"Hey Derek, gotten all the information already?" He asked lazily.

"Oh! Umm," Clover looked at me, blushing slightly. "Sorry, Derek! I completely forgot that just because I know everything you don't."

I smiled over at her, "you're fine. I can wait for Tori to explain." she smiled at me thankfully. I nodded my head.

As Clover and Diriel took off, I began to follow them until I felt a hand on my arm. I looked over at Peter, his hazel eyes watching Clover leave. When he realized he had my attention, he said, "Why does she already know everything and you don't? Did she know the girl?"

"yeah." I grunted.

"How?" that was a good question. How did she know this Elizabeth Delaney? I thought back to all the people Clover had talked about. All her friends. I thought back to about two weeks ago.

/Flasback/

"Hey, guys. Anything new or is it all just paperwork?" Clover walked onto the floor, her footfalls as silent as a cat's. Her honey brown hair was back in a bun with a few pieces falling in her face. Her blue eyes were observant as she scanned the floor, eyes roaming over all of us.

"Nothing yet, Brooks." Peter called out. Clover nodded, her posture relaxing as she realized this day might just be full of a couple hours of paperwork before we could go home.

"So, you planning anything fun for the weekend, Clove?" Diriel asked as Clover took her seat in her space beside mine.

"Yeah." Clover said, her eyes alight at the thought of the weekend approaching. "Liz, Tori and I are heading up to the mall before going to catch a movie."

"Liz? Who's that?" I asked.

"Liz? Elizabeth Delaney? That bubbly, talkative blonde who drove me here for a couple of weeks when my car broke down? Does any of this ring a bell?" Clover had her eyes brows raised as I thought back to a few months ago when Clover's ancient hunk of metal had broken down. We had, in the end, finally gotten her to rid herself of the piece of thrash, but before that, she had had a friend bring her to the precint,

"Do you mean that 26-year-old woman who had flirted with Peter untii she realized he was three years younger? That girl?" I asked. I saw Peter, out of the corner of my eye, turn bright red. Clover grinned.

"Yup, that's the one."

/Flashback over/

"Yeah, she's a good friend of both Clove and Tori. She's that girl who tried to date you until she realized you were a little too young for her." Peter's eyes widened.

"No way. She can't... why would she want, or someone want, for her to suddenly disappear? She was so fun and easy-going! Why would anyone want to ruin her life?" I shook my head.

"Why do some people find joy in killing? Why do some people sit around thinking about how to kill people all day?" I raised my eyebrow at him.

"People... there's nothing that can really ever explain why someone does anything. It's just because."

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><p><strong>To all of you who don't like Clover (that should be all of you) DEAL WITH IT! She is vital to the story line and I like her very much. If you don't, suck it up and learn to love her!<strong>

**-D (since Jo is happy and asleep[I think])**


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